Time, patience, and a huge commitment of energy and resources are necessary as governments and private organizations work to rebuild Afghanistan’s almost non-existent health-care system, according to Dr. Joan Coggin, director of International Affairs for Loma Linda University and Medical Center, southern California.

Coggin was a key organizer of a symposium on health care in Afghanistan, held August 4, and co-sponsored by LLUMC and the Afghan Medical Association of America. Dr. Sohaila Siddiq, Afghanistan’s minister of public health, spoke at the event, emphasizing the magnitude of the task ahead, and the need to restore her country’s ability to educate and train much-needed health professionals.

Coggin says the event was significant because it brought together a group of “very concerned people, who share the same goal—namely, improving the state of health care in Afghanistan as efficiently and rapidly as we can.”

The state of Afghanistan’s health-care system is “truly mind-boggling,” says Coggin. “The entire infrastructure needs to be rebuilt.” And outside the capital, Kabul, access to health care is simply nonexistent, she adds.

LLUMC is one of a number of partners who over the past four years have worked to improve medical training at the University of Kabul. On July 4, 2001, the Loma Linda University Center was opened at the Kabul Medical Institute. The four-room facility consists of a teaching area, a laboratory space, and a computer and library area.

In private talks over the weekend with Afghanistan’s minister for health, administrators from LLUMC expressed interest in expanding the university’s assistance in Afghanistan, says Coggin.

“Education is our strength,” says Coggin. “Although we can’t engage huge numbers of people in the effort, we believe we can contribute by providing health-care training at the community level to help train those who will then train others.” She names rehabilitation, nursing, and dental care as just a few of areas in which LLUMC could potentially play a role in strengthening primary health care in Afghanistan.

LLUMC, a Seventh-day Adventist institution in southern California, has a long tradition of international assistance projects. It is currently involved in health-care education initiatives in countries such as China, Puerto Rico, Japan, and India.